-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- The legacy of U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy , who died on Tuesday , spreads far and wide , and across the ocean to now-independent Bangladesh . There , he is still revered for calling attention to what many deemed an unfolding genocide .

Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy , known as the `` Lion of the Senate , '' died Tuesday at 77 .

It may have started as a politically prudent move by a Democratic senator eyeing the White House during a Republican regime . But Kennedy stood up to the Nixon administration in 1971 and alerted the world to the bloodshed that was engulfing then-East Pakistan .

`` In 1971 , there were very few leaders from the so-called free world who were paying any attention to what was going on in Bangladesh . And for Ted Kennedy to come forward and to personally visit , the impact was huge , '' said Akku Chowdhury , founder and director of Bangladesh 's Liberation War Museum .

`` And that 's one thing Bangladeshis have always remembered . ''

At the time , the U.S. policy -- directed by President Richard Nixon and his National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger -- was to resolutely support Pakistan , from which Bangladesh was trying to secede .

The administration 's reasons : The Soviet Union and India had just signed a treaty of friendship , and Nixon was concerned about the expansion of Soviet influence in the region .

Thus , it made strategic sense for the United States to align itself with India 's neighbor , Pakistan .

The United States turned a blind eye to reports of atrocities committed by the Pakistani army to suppress the independence movement -- even as U.S. diplomats urged the administration to speak up .

`` Our government has failed to denounce the suppression of democracy . Our government has failed to denounce atrocities , '' Consul General Archer Blood wrote in one of many telegrams from Dhaka to the U.S. State Department questioning American policy . `` But we have chosen not to intervene , even morally , on the grounds that the ... conflict , in which unfortunately the overworked term ` genocide ' is applicable , is purely an internal matter of a sovereign state . ''

The `` Blood Telegram , '' as it came to be known , was reclassified as secret , and Blood transferred out of Dhaka .

Soon after , Kennedy traveled to east India to gauge the plight of displaced Bangladeshis -- more than 10 million of whom had sought refuge there .

On his return , he issued a scathing report to the Senate Judiciary Committee on Refugees . The report , `` Crisis in South Asia , '' spoke of `` one of the most appalling tides of human misery in modern times . ''

`` Nothing is more clear , or more easily documented , than the systematic campaign of terror -- and its genocidal consequences -- launched by the Pakistani army on the night of March 25th , '' he wrote .

`` All of this has been officially sanctioned , ordered and implemented under martial law from Islamabad . America 's heavy support of Islamabad is nothing short of complicity in the human and political tragedy of East Bengal . ''

The Nixon administration maintained its stance . But Kennedy 's focus on the mass killings came as everyday Americans began to share in the outrage . For instance , Beatle George Harrison 's Concert for Bangladesh , the first benefit event of its kind , was staged to further highlight the plight of Bangladeshi refugees .

Besieged , the U.S. Congress pushed through a bill to ban arms sales to Pakistan .

On December 16 , 1971 , Bangladesh gained independence after a 10-month struggle , in which 1 million to 3 million Bengalis were killed .

`` When the fighting was over , there were vultures almost too fat to fly , and Bangladesh was a land with few of the sinews of nationhood left unsevered , '' the National Geographic said in a piece about the birth of the country .

Two months later -- in February 1972 -- Kennedy flew to Bangladesh and delivered a speech at Dhaka University , where the killing rampage had begun a year earlier .

About 8,000 jubilant students crowded into the university courtyard and jammed lecture hall balconies and roofs , greeting him with chants of `` Joi Kennedy '' -- a variation on the independence slogan of `` Joi Bangla . ''

In his speech , Kennedy drew parallels between the liberation of Bangladesh and the American Revolution . He said America had prospered despite predictions that it would collapse following independence , and so would Bangladesh .

`` Even though the United States government does not recognize you , the people of the world do recognize you , '' Kennedy told the crowd .

On the university campus stood a banyan tree where Bengalis student leaders had planted the seeds for the independence movement -- and which the Pakistani army had destroyed as a symbolic gesture .

During his visit , Kennedy planted a new tree there .

It still stands today -- a testament to a country that overcame long odds to survive and one man who helped champion it .

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Kennedy spoke out about Bangladesh when U.S. policy was supporting Pakistan

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Kennedy visited east India , then wrote report on displaced Bangladeshis

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In report , he accused Pakistani army of `` systematic campaign of terror ''

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Beatle George Harrison also highlighted refugees ' plight with benefit concert